When the rumors started about the possibility of the Cleveland Indians trading Francisco Lindor rather than sign him to a long term deal, some folks were giddy about the possibility of getting several top prospects from a team.
We didn’t think that would be the case. We always figured it would be a top prospect, a major league player who wouldn’t be close to the player the Indians were giving up, and some younger prospects.
Which is exactly what the Tribe received. The only problem was that was the haul for Lindor and Carlos Carrasco.
Our opinion is if you keep giving up $20 bills in exchange for a $10, a $5, and a couple of dollar bills, you will eventually wind up with out any money, definitely less than you started with.
Whether this deal turns out to be a plus or not really depends on how the two youngest players pan out, right handed pitcher Josh Wolf and left-handed hitting outfielder Isaiah Greene.
The problem is neither have any track record in professional baseball, Wolf is 20-years-old and has pitched just eight professional innings. While Greene was just drafted last season, and because of the pandemic, has yet to play in the minor leagues.
These two may wind up becoming top prospects in a few years, or they may never get to play for the Akron Rubber Ducks. That’s what a little track record the duo has.
They are pretty much draft picks, which by the way, Cleveland could have received had they kept their all-star shortstop in 2021, and given him a qualifying offer.
To us, Andres Gimenez is the best player to come from New York. A 22-year-old left-handed bat, Gimenez is very good defensively, and was a Top 100 prospect in both 2018 and 2019 from Baseball America. Unfornately, he fell out of that ranking prior to 2020.
He has a bit of an issue with strike zone judgment, walking just seven times vs. 28 strikeouts, and he has good speed, stealing eight bases in 49 games in ’20. The Mets moved him around, he played SS, 2B, and 3B, but he will probably open the season at short for the Tribe.
Gimenez’s strike zone control may not be great, but compared to Amed Rosario, he’s Ted Williams. Rosario last season walked just four times, against 34 punchouts. In his big league career, he’s played 403 games, and still hasn’t walked 100 times. In fact, he’s taken just 67 free passes.
He did hit .287 (755 OPS) in 2019 with 15 homers, but took a step back in the shortened season. Can he comeback? Of course, we will play 2021 at age 25, but projections for the 2021 have him not producing numbers better than Gimenez.
By contrast, at age 22, Lindor hit .301 with 15 homers (794 OPS) and won the Platinum Glove, and at age 25, which was 2019, he hit .284 with 32 bombs (854 OPS) and won his second Gold Glove.
And again, they added a starting pitcher who as little as two years ago won 17 games, and the year prior to that won 18.
So, the Indians really weakened themselves offensively, defensively, and in the pitching area as well. That neither Gimenez nor Rosario is Lindor isn’t their fault, but forgive Cleveland baseball fans if they aren’t saving their money for playoff tickets in 2021.
Team president Chris Antonetti said the team will reinvest some of the money saved in the deal, and if they didn’t they would have one of the lowest payrolls in the game.
The Tribe still has a big gaping hole in the outfield, so the possibility remains some of the middle infield prospects the team has, six of their top 15 are SS/2B, for some help in this area.
We also feel the Indians will move one of their catchers (Roberto Perez and/or Austin Hedges) before the season begins too.
It figures to be a season of transition for the Cleveland Indians, and let’s hope that time period is limited to just one season.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 